Gorging Ourselves in Gusto

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all enjoying the week so far! Gosh, how is it already Wednesday?! Time seems to be flowing away from me so speedily as I sit here every day, glued to my laptop for revision. As the weekend is rapidly approaching, I thought I would do a quick restaurant/foodie type post in case you were looking for somewhere to go out.  

Last Friday I took Mr.Gingersnap out for a meal for his birthday, as we were driving my car home from uni the next day we ate in Heswall instead of down South like usual. I had actually been to Gusto before on a friend's birthday and it was fabulous! 

The decor is very classy and Italian themed, there are lots of cute fairy lights draped on real olive trees between the tables. Gusto has that perfect balance of mood lighting, not so dark that you can't see what you're eating (though it tasted so good I didn't need to see it!) and not so light that you feel like the sun burning you to a crisp. I like that there aren't too many tables, but they don't rush you on so they can have another sitting, rapid service, but not being hurried is the best. When you first go in there is a fully functioning bar with some lovely cocktails, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic! I love a good mocktail, we went for tasty strawberry flavours because who doesn't wish it was summer already. 

Left is Strawberry Kiss and right is Mint & Strawberry Cooler - So yummy!! 

As we are both little piglets we had a starter and a main each...I went for the calamari drizzled in fresh lemon juice with lime dipping sauce and Mr.Gingersnap went for the meat balls in a spicy tomato sauce with bruschetta. Yum! For mains we both went for thin based pizza, with Mr having a carnivore with every kind of meat known to man, whilst I went for the chicken and sweet red pepper. We were so stuffed that we couldn't eat it all and ended up taking some home with us. Which I must say was delicious as a lunch on the long drive home! I think it is the mark of a good restaurant if their food tastes equally yummy the next day. 

We were both too full for puddings, *longing sigh*, but they looked amazing! Check out their menu here. What kind of food do you guys love? Let me know in the comments below :-) 

xoxo

Weekend should = pizza!

Hello everyone, 

I'm so glad it's Friday and I'm 100% certain many of you feel the same! It's definitely fair to say that weeks in the winter feel much longer than any other time of the year. When the weather is dreary and the days are long it is very tempting to fall into a rutt of snacking on rubbish food and generally feeling sorry for yourself, all the while berating yourself over the loss of your "summer body". Eating healthy doesn't have to mean cutting out carbs and only eating boring salad, you can have treat foods too, simply by adding a healthy twist. 

I am a huge lover of pizza, it's so quick and easy to make! For those of you who also love it and fancied making it a little better for your body here is the perfect recipe. 

You will need: 

• A pizza base (I was going to make my own, but I couldn't find yeast in the supermarket *sigh*)
• Flour 
• Tomato puree 
• Olives 
• As many vegetables/miscellaneous toppings as you like 
• Mozzarella 
• A pre-heated oven to 200°C / 400°F / Gas Mark 6     

1. Start by rolling out your pizza base onto grease proof paper. You can use as little or as much of the base as you like. I chose to do a small pizza for myself, saving half of my base for another day. Just roll up any excess in grease proof paper and put it in the fridge or the freezer depending on how long you want to store it. 

2. Squeeze your tomato puree liberally onto the base and spread it around evenly. You can do this with the back of a spoon or a plastic spatula like mine in the photo. 

3. At this point you could choose to add your cheese, I didn't fancy cheese on mine, but I have put in a picture of my housemate's pizza. She evenly laid the mozzarella on the pizza in strips. 

4. Now add your toppings! I added green pepper, black olives, baby sweetcorn (I boiled this beforehand so it wasn't rock solid) and tuna. My housemate added prosciutto and olives to hers. 

5. Sprinkle some flour on your exposed edges and pop your pizza on a baking tray and into the oven it goes. The time may vary depending on how well done you like your pizza. Bearing in mind these are thin bases I let mine cook for 10 minutes before taking it out. 

And voila, your pizza is ready to eat. This takes no time at all and you can be as creative as you like with your toppings! 

What are your go-to toppings? Let me know in the comments below :-) 

xoxo